Description

To open a Japanese puzzle box one or more sliding panels hidden within the patterns on the box must be moved. There are 10 separate moves or 10 steps to open this trick opening puzzle box.

A fantastic way to prolong the excitement of giving a gift. Imagine Dad on Father’s Day or you brother at Christmas trying to open this one.

Traditional Japanese secret opening boxes were first made in the Hakone region about the 1890’s by master woodworker Ryugoro Okawa and are decorated with a veneer called yosegi zaiku marquetry. Today the youngest of the Himitsu-Bako Master craftsman is about 60 years old. This very precise process starts with selecting the wood to be used taking care with the combination of colours to be used, then allowing it to dry, before cutting the wood and then gluing it together to form the desired pattern. Then the box is built and each movement must be tested to ensure all the mechanics of the puzzle are working correctly. Last of all, very thin sheets of the glued patterns called zuku are shaved with a special plane and glued on to the puzzle to give the final marquetry finish to the piece.

Because each puzzle box is handmade in Japan by individual craftsmen the pattern on each one will be very similar but may vary slightly from the photo shown here.

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